"Give me a show! Fight!" Ink hisses again. The two bodyguards in disguise look at each other questioningly, unsure how to respond.
Lex Luther nods, his eyes narrow as he silently assesses their ability to follow orders. Edge drops down first, Red follows in suit. They're no waiting or banter as there usually is when they spar, instead they get right down to business. Red lunges forward, hurtling towards her. She ducks under his fists, retaliating with a knee jamming into his gut. He gasps for air but kicks out from the ground, connecting with the back of her knee. Edge curses under her breath, lunges at him, fist driving into his shoulder, Red rolls, catching her hands and pinning her to the ground, she brings her legs up and kicks up, her feet connect with his chest and he's sent flying. Edge races over, Red's standing by the time she reaches him. Red throws a quick jab, catching her side. She hisses from the sharp pain, and ducks under a punch, rockets up and rams her elbow into the center of his chest, followed by a fist to the collarbone. Red curses and narrows his eyes, rushing towards her, closing the small gap. Edge sees it coming a second too late, his fist pounds across the left side of her face, and her nose gushes blood. Edge doesn't hesitate in her counter-attack. She roars in anger and flies at him, only her right eye open as her foot meet his chest, he's pushed back several feet, and barely parries her next attack. Out of nowhere, her foot flies up, hitting him across the jaw and again over the nose before she backflips out of his reach.
"Enough!" Lex Luther demands after Ink fails to, He whirls angrily on Ink, "They've more than proven their capability, if this gets much worse they'll have to be temporarily replaced because of their injuries! Do you know how hard it was to find fighters of this quality?"
Ink nods, smirking, "Yes, they are ferocious indeed; perhaps even a match for some of the non-powered heroes in the League and side-kicks team. I am almost looking forward to an assassination attempt!"
Edge resists the urge to stop the flow of blood from her nose, but stands to attention, ignoring the hot flow of blood running down her face, chin and neck, seeping onto her clothes.
Lex looks at her in disgust and waves someone over, "Escort over there to the physician." He looks over Red as well and adds, "Bring with you. Twenty minutes tops and their assignment starts."
The two are led through the building to a pure-white office that smells of office supplies and faintly of dried blood. The young man looks like he's only few years older than Red, Luther probably hired him right out of school...based on the vials in the corner, half-hidden, this guy's probably working on some illegal serum for Cadmus. He colors when he sees Edge, and the shade of pink darkens when he sees her raised eyebrow.
"Hello? Blood gushing from face?" Edge says, irritated.
"Right. Ice and tissues. New clothes. Got it?" He says to the guard. The guard nods and scurries off. "I'm Aaron Greene, the building physician."
"I'd ask why this place needs a doctor, but I can see why." Edge says, only half interested in the conversation. Red's brow furrows, but he says nothing.
"Yeah, you gonna give me an excuse or the truth about those bruises and that nose?" He raises an eyebrow, "I've heard it all."
"We fought, tied and beat each other up, bad."
"Looks like you got the worst of it." Greene says.
"You'd be wrong." Edge says, sweetly. A dangerous glint enters her eyes, "So get off my back, alright?"
He nods and turns to Red, "You hurt or just accompanying your girlfriend?"
Red grits his teeth and replies, "I just want so ice; like five or six packs, and some tape."
"What do you need six ice packs for?"
"Just be glad you'll never be on the receiving end of that girls hits; she's strong despite her size." Red huffs.
Greene laughs and nods as Edge retorts, "I'm not small! I'm five feet six inches!"
"Small." Red and Greene state simultaneously, resulting in glaring both ways. Edge stands back, amused, holding tissue to her face a minute after the bleeding supposedly stopped, just to be safe. Greene handed her a t-shirt. She grabbed it and crossed her arms.
"Bathroom is where?" She asks.
"Four doors down."
She nods and leaves, returning within a minute, wearing the new shirt. Edge shrugs, and raises her eyebrows at them.
Red rolls his eyes, not liking the way Greene looks over Edge. He promptly drags Edge out of the room, back up to Ink and Luther. Red tapes the ice packs to various bruises underneath his shirt as they walk, partially wondering why Edge's face turned pink, but dismissing it. The two of them had lost their guard somewhere along the way. But there were security cameras everywhere, not the time to snoop around. They'd be back later.
Red and Edge report back to the room, two minutes to spare.
Luther nods and says, "You'll be protecting Ink and his daughter, Grace." If this is the Grace Edge knows, this mission just got a lot more complicated.
Grace walks into the room from the elevator, fingering a long, thin knife. One of thirteen strapped in a row on her waist. She's the wealthy, bratty and way more criminal version of Edge.
Grace walks over to the two bodyguards, "Is this the new meat? Annie needs feeding, so the girl can go now. The boy can stay." She grins wickedly at them, expecting a response. She gets none except an amused glance between the two bodyguards. Edge has to resist raising an eyebrow at the mention of the huge tiger though, Annie's given her scars in the past. That's the thing about both sides not being fond of you; you get a lot of scars from both sides.
"They aren't new meat in that sense. They're our new bodyguards." Ink says in his raspy voice, fingering his own knife before sharpening it. Red notices that he too has thirteen knives hidden under his coat. What is this? Some sort of knife-throwing cult? His eyes involuntarily widen when he remembers that Edge usually carries thirteen knives, herself.
Red narrows his eyes, and hardens his heart. Edge is a suspect, now. One of three standing in the same room. But he'd be lying if he said he didn't hope it was Grace or Ink instead of her. He's biased, and he's begun to realize it.
